Steve Evans praises persistent Peterborough after late show at Rotherham

Posted Saturday, March 31, 2018 by PA

Steve Evans was pleased Peterborough kept going against his former club Rotherham as they forced a 1-1 draw right at the death.

Jack Marriott’s 24th league goal of the season, eight minutes into the six added on by referee Scott Oldham, earned Posh a very late point.

Rotherham were ahead on 68 minutes when substitute Caolan Lavery turned in from Anthony Forde’s free-kick as the Millers finally made their advantage count.

Peterborough manager Evans, who earned two promotions with Rotherham, said: “I had a lot of late goals at the New York Stadium. We will take the point.

“This was always going to be a difficult game because it’s a tough place to come.

“It is a positive result. You have got to have the desire to turn a defeat into a draw or a draw into a win.

“First half, I don’t think there was anything in it.

“We’re disappointed with the marking for the free-kick. One of our boys didn’t do his allocated job, so they scored.

“When six minutes went up, I thought the only thing that would stop us scoring was the clock. They panicked a little bit.”

Evans praised Marriott for nicking the goal and feels it will become increasingly difficult to keep hold of him.

He added: “He is the best goalscorer I have ever worked with. He is simply stunning.

“It’s a stunning finish. He is most likely going to go and join a huge club in the summer.

“I have worked with some fantastic strikers but he is the best finisher.”

Rotherham manager Paul Warne said: “We were pretty dominant in pretty horrendous conditions. One-nil is never enough. I did not celebrate us scoring because I thought it was not going to be enough.

“I probably would have taken a 1-1 if you had asked me at the start of the game but not after 97 minutes.

“I am not overly disappointed. I was really pleased with the performance and the lads did exactly what we wanted them to do. We dealt with Marriott and Marcus Maddison right up until the final minute.

“For them to nick it right at the end was pretty hard to swallow.

“I thought the lads did pretty well. I am not criticising the team. I thought they were excellent and fully deserved to win.

“For Caolan to get a goal was great. Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do.

“I am really pleased for him but sad for the team because they put their bodies on the line for the whole game and to lose the win was disappointing – but they will get over it.”